Survey Millennials Now And Then They Grow Up

The one consistency about our local media is false narratives they continue reporting about. Today's Tribune does not disappoint with their front page above the fold article titled Tampa wants millennial workers; survey will explore how to lure them. 

As reported by the Tribune, 

The Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. has commissioned a survey of millennial CEOs and workers in competing markets to ask what would persuade them to relocate here for a job or to move their company to Hillsborough County.

The EDC is investing $35,000 to conduct the survey, which will be completed in May. Bauer said the EDC hopes to create a plan based on the results.

Who is the EDC? A public-private partnership we posted about in 2013. Many of their "investors" are taxpayer funded entities or organizations that receive taxpayer monies. Hillsborough County taxpayers handed the EDC $700K in 2015 and $600K for 2016. Last year the city of Tampa provided the EDC with $538K of city tax dollars. 

There is some very good news in the Tribune article regarding Florida and the Tampa Bay area:

The Kauffman Foundation, which focuses on entrepreneurship and education, ranks the Tampa metro area sixth in startup density behind Miami, New York City, Orlando, Austin and Denver. 

Florida is also listed in the top 10 states for startup density.

We are not surprised. This, however, should make one pause about spending billions on transportation options that may become irrelevant in the next decade or two. Better to stay flexible and nimble and able to take advantage of new technology and innovation than be tied down forever or decades with costly projects such as high cost rail.  

Of course the Tribune cannot help themselves as they must bring in the transportation issue by citing a two year old 2014 Rockefeller Foundation survey. 

Studies, including one by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2014, say many millennials want access to better transit options and the ability to rely less on their cars or to give them up altogether. 

More than half surveyed rank transportation options as one of their top three criteria for deciding where to live. 

They want walkability and parks and stores and restaurants near their homes. 

That is the kind of information needed for this area to create the right atmosphere to draw and keep millennials, Bauer said. 

Why did the Tribune cite this particular two year old study? Which Tribune "handler" handed them this study? A simple Google search will bring up lots of information and more current information regarding millennials. We can certainly speculate who the "handler" is…….

The Rockefeller Foundation is not the bastion of conservatism but has a history of funding and supporting Progressive policies - universal health care, globalism, Smart Growth, costly climate change policies while opposing the Keystone XL pipeline and ironically advocating for eliminating the use of fossil fuels. (Rockefeller owned Standard Oil). They provide grants to other Progressive organizations.

Rockefeller Foundation used the Global Strategy Group to conduct the survey sited. A list of Global Strategy Group clients can be found here. Click on the tabs Politics and Causes.

The survey was done of millennials in 10 major US cities across three tiers of transportation systems - "Mature" (Chicago, NYC, San Francisco), "Growing" (Charlotte, Denver, LA (huh?), Minneapolis-St. Paul) and "Aspiring" (Indianapolis, Nashville, Tampa-St. Petersburg). 

Nowhere are the terms "mature, growing and aspiring" defined so one must make that determination themselves. Could it be based on the amount of public transit? Who knows?

The actual survey done in 2014 by the Global Strategy Group is found here. Seventy-one percent of those surveyed were ages 18-29, including 38% who were 18-24, the most of any age category - that age group is recent high school graduates, college aged, and many who have just started a career or haven't begun to start a career or a family. Only 29% surveyed were in the 30-34 age category - those more likely to have started a career, perhaps started a family, and probably more fiscally responsible as they take on more responsibility for their own and/or their families livelihoods.

What were the political affiliations of those millennials surveyed?

58% leaned Democrat vs 19% leaned Republican

58% leaned Democrat, including 28% who were strong Democrats, vs 19% leaning Republican, including 7% who were strong Republicans and 18% Independents. Does that accurately reflect actual demographics, especially in Hillsborough? We don't think so. 

Read the questions and the statements made whether to agree or not and anyone can determine this was a push poll. 

What were some of the results for "aspiring" Tampa-St. Petersburg?
65% rated their cities public transportation fair to excellent, including 33% who rated it good to excellent. Note that 12% did not know or refused to answer.

95% have access to a car in their household, including 80% who have their own car

87% on any given day use a car 

86% never, once or twice or rarely use public transportation, including 53% who never

Then page 3 they get to the "feel good push questions" 

Importance of services (click to enlarge)

Read through the rest of the questions and remember most of those interviewed are 18-29 year olds. There are contradictions throughout and no indication of the actual cost for these services were provided - other than pushing the attitude that cars are bad, cars are dangerous, cars cost too much and someone else should be paying for their "affordable" public transit - even though 80% have their own cars….

The Tribune must have intentionally missed one of the last questions - or else their "handlers" did not tell them. 

"Aspring" Millennials will not give up their cars

66% disagree, including 33% who strongly disagree, with seriously considering giving up their car even if they "could" count on public transportation…..and other "affordable" options.

That squares with this recent AP story 

Now the largest generation in the U.S., millennials bought 4 million cars and trucks in the U.S. last year, second only to the baby boomers, according to J.D. Power's Power Information Network, which defines millennials as those between 21 and 38 in 2015. Millennials' share of the new car market jumped to 28 percent.

In the country's biggest car market, California, millennials outpaced boomers for the first time. 

But as they got jobs and started families, millennials headed into car dealerships just like previous generations.

"Millennials are going to be the main generation we will cater to as an industry," says John Humphrey, J.D. Power's senior vice president of global automotive operations. 

The Tribune published some broad statements about the Rockefeller Foundation survey with absolutely "no context" about who was actually polled or about any of the specific questions asked. That enables false narratives to be created. 

This article from March 2015 titled Think Millennials Prefer The City? Think Again.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data released this week, 529,000 Americans ages 25 to 29 moved from cities out to the suburbs in 2014; only 426,000 moved in the other direction. Among younger millennials, those in their early 20s, the trend was even starker: 721,000 moved out of the city, compared with 554,000 who moved in.1 Somewhat more people in both age groups currently live in the suburbs than in the city.

The common narrative isn’t entirely wrong about the long-term trend lines. Millennials are moving to the suburbs at a much lower rate than past generations did at the same age. In the mid-1990s, people ages 25 to 29 weretwice as likely to move from the city to the suburbs as vice versa. Today, they’re only about a quarter more likely. But even that slowdown appears to be mostly about people delaying their move to the suburbs, not forgoing it entirely. Today’s 30- to 44-year-olds are actually heading for the suburbs at a significantly faster rate than in the 1990s.

But a survey released earlier this year found that most millennials still want a traditional suburban experience, complete with big single-family homes. The American Community Survey, which provides a more granular look than the data released this week, tells much the same story, said Jed Kolko, chief economist of the real estate site Trulia.

According to this recent Citilabs (a news site that promotes the urban lifestyle) post by Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia, an online real estate site.

America’s population growth trends are reverting to pre-2000 patterns as the housing bubble and its aftermath recede.

Kolko has lots of data as it is his business to get it right.

Here's another article published today about the resurgence of the suburbs THE SUN BELT IS RISING AGAIN, NEW CENSUS NUMBERS SHOW.

From 2009-11, Americans seemed to be clustering again in dense cities, to the great excitement urban boosters. The recently released 2015 Census population estimates confirm that was an anomaly. Americans have strongly returned to their decades long pattern of greater suburbanization and migration to lower-density, lower-cost metropolitan areas, largely in the South, Intermountain West and, most of all, in Texas.

The Tribune is acting as the stenographer for the transitarians and urbanistas. The narrative they are selling is already old, stale and out of date. 

We must make decisions and investments based on reality, real data and not opinion surveys or media created myths. 

Perhaps the EDC should use some of their funding dollars to analyze actual data….

Yes, millennials today are a huge segment of the working population, especially as the baby boomers continue retiring. However as they age and the economy has gotten better, they are behaving more and more like previous generations.  

Because millennials do grow up. 

Schizophrenia and the Sales Tax Hike Feeding Frenzy

A roundup of recent media on the Go Hillsborough debacle and our transportation issue.

We'll start with the very latest. County Administrator Mike Merrill continues to orchestrate media reporting about the Go Hillsborough crony mess he helped create. We still find it odd that he asked for a Sheriff's investigation for events he caused and occurred on his watch.

Apparently Merrill's original talking points he handed the Tribune weren't clear or correct causing the Tribune to make a major update to their online version to their story Sheriff finishing Go Hillsborough probe, release set next month. The Tribune first reported that the investigation was complete as if all nicely tied up in a package ready to be released but then they had to make an update (emphasis mine).

County Administrator Mike Merrill, in an e-mail Tuesday afternoon, told county commissioners the investigation was complete. He later sent an e-mail to the Tribune clarifying that only “field work” is done, including interviews and document analysis.

“Technically, the investigation is ongoing until the sheriff issues the final report,” Merrill said

How did Merrill leave out that important information to begin with? Perhaps he's in over his head.

Did the Tribune finally contact a HCSO spokesman instead of relying on Merrill's talking points?

Sheriff’s spokesman Larry McKinnon said once all parts of the investigation are wrapped up, a copy of the final report will be sent to the State Attorney’s Office for final review. 

“We will notify the public and media via a press release when the investigation is completed and finalized by the SAO,” McKinnon said in an e-mail.

The Tribune reports what we have been saying from the start - the transportation initiative was always about pushing another huge sales tax hike:

The group [Policy Leadership Group] has been meeting for two years, trying to develop a comprehensive transportation plan that voters would support with a half-cent-per-dollar sales tax increase.

Moving on to other recent media attention of our transportation issue. On December 25 it was reported by the Tribune that Florida has 1000 people a day coming to Florida and most will be bringing their cars.

That influx is not expected to slow down anytime soon with the state’s population predicted to rise to 26 million by 2030, according to the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida.

The Eye posted a response here.

The vast majority of the new arrivals will be arriving by car, will continue to use their car in their daily. This growth is the driving reason why we must fix our roads now! 

Many of the new arrivals will be baby boomers, seeking to retiree in the sunshine the rest of us have enjoyed for many years. But keep in mind where many are coming from, and why they are coming here. They are not coming here to replicate the experiences they had in the past. They want our lifestyle - sun, fun, affordable living and freedom and ease of getting around town and the state.

The estimated 600K new residents moving to Hillsborough County by 2040 will not be heading to downtown Tampa. The urban core of Tampa is only estimated to grow about 20K by 2040.

Tuesday the Tribune reported that 2 downtown groups sent letters (coincidentally on the very same day) to our county commissioners in support of the Go Hillsborough plan.

Without a better transportation system, tourism in the Tampa area is likely to shrink from its current record levels and the region will lose its capacity to draw businesses to the urban core, according to two groups that promote economic development.

Both Visit Tampa Bay and the Tampa Downtown Partnership sent letters Dec. 18 to the Hillsborough County commission supporting Go Hillsborough, an initiative designed to raise millions of dollars for an improved transportation system.

They could not even wait until the results of the law enforcement investigation was released. We assume they don't care or what do they know that we don't?

A copy of the letter from the Downtown Partnership to Commissioner Victor Crist was conveniently included in taxpayer funded TBARTA's recent newsletter. Coordination and collusion among taxpayer funded entities and special interests are standard operating tactics for pushing sales tax hike referendums. This letter was dated December 15 not December 18th. We don't know if the Downtown Partnership sent Crist a separate lobbying letter than what the Tribune reported was sent to the rest of the commissioners. The letter can be found here and this statement is interesting.

We have attempted to position the TECO Line Streetcar's potential to be the starter system of a more regional rail system.

Letter from Downtown Partnership to Commissioner Crist

Regional rail is the real goal.

Ever hear much from the taxpayer funded entities being champions for funding our local roads? That has too much common sense because 98% of us use our roads everyday. Roads aren't sexy or a high cost shiny new object.

The Tribune even asked the County Attorney to weigh in on the legality of these 2 entities endorsing Go Hillsborough since they receive public funds.

As long as there is no referendum on a ballot, neither agency is prohibited from advocating for a better transportation network, County Attorney Chip Fletcher said. But one Florida statute does prohibit groups receiving government funds from advocating for a specific referendum; Fletcher said he doesn’t know whether that law would apply once a local transportation referendum is placed on the ballot.

The Tribune called to ask if I had an issue with these taxpayer funded entities supporting Go Hillsborough. I had to chuckle and ask the reporter whether she was surprised as I certainly was not.

The bigger issue I told the Tribune reporter that was unfortunately totally ignored is our State  electioneering laws are so broad a MAC truck could drive through them with no stiff penalties or consequences if violated. Our electioneering laws must be strengthened to clearly and concisely prevent taxpayer funded entities from using taxpayer funded resources and influence against the taxpayer. Real consequences and hefty penalties must be included if violations occur.

Where was the Tribune in 2010 and 2014 asking these questions? Every taxpayer funded entity in the Tampa Bay area came out supporting the 2010 Hillsborough and 2014 Pinellas sales tax hikes. We witnessed some taxpayer funded entities in 2010 spend (and waste) lots of taxpayer money attempting to sell voters to support the tax hike.

These 2 Tribune articles seem a bit schizophrenic. We are first told our state and the Tampa Bay area is growing in leaps and bounds with no end in sight and our tourism is booming because people and businesses want to move here and visit here. Then we are told 2 downtown groups support Go Hillsborough because without it our tourism will fall and businesses won't come here. Which is it?

See the Eye's post here  regarding Tuesday's Tribune article. Visit Tampa Bay's own website has this December 9, 2015 article Tampa Bay tourism revenues soar nearly 20 percent in October.  We're leading our competitors, even Orlando, in hotel occupancy and profitability.

The letter also stated

“Every day Hillsborough County delays improvements to its transportation network, we fall farther behind our competitors,” the letter says.

Just last December Visit Tampa Bay's CEO changed hands. The Times wrote an article about the departing CEO and reported.

…the county set a new bed tax record as the industry rebounded from the recession;

Nowhere does Visit Tampa Bay state our competitors are NYC, DC, Boston and Europe. Comparing Hillsborough to NYC, DC, Boston and Europe is ridiculous. People are fleeing those areas to move here. Visit Tampa Bay needs a reality check.

The new CEO Santiago Corrado was chief of staff to Mayors Iorio and Buckhorn, both big rail cheerleaders, before taking the position with Visit Tampa Bay. Buckhorn has ridden the coattails of the $1.3 million county funded Go Hillsborough sales tax hike proposal to fund his rail projects without the city of Tampa paying a dime for the effort. Corrado is also on the Board of the Downtown Partnership so it's no surprise that Corrado and his agency support Go Hillsborough.

The Tribune reports this from special interests Tampa Downtown Partnership

Businesses considering a move to Tampa want to see a transportation system in place to get their employees to work on time and to and from the downtown district, said Christine Burdick, president of the Tampa Downtown Partnership. Without offering those options, the county is at a disadvantage in drawing new businesses, she said.

We have multiple dispersed work centers, USF, Brandon, Westshore, MacDill and a very small downtown business district, smaller than Charlotte's. Go Hillsborough's costly rail plans to expand and transform the (bankrupted) streetcar into light rail and build a rail from the airport to downtown does nothing to relieve congestion for commuters going to work.

Downtown Partnership's Burdick also says this

“We are acknowledging the amount of time and consideration and effort that went in to Go Hillsborough to date and the county commission needs to let the public have a say in this and take a step that will help,” Burdick said. “For corporate headquarters or other installations considering a move here, it is really important that we appear to be addressing our transportation issues.” (emphasis mine)

Do we want this county to "appear to be addressing our transportation issues" or actually doing something about it?

Yes - we all agree the status quo is unacceptable. The county commissioners have within their own powers the ability to start funding our roads and transportation needs now. It would be refreshing for once to hear the business community demand fiscal responsibility and due diligence from our county commissioners to appropriately fund our county's highest priorities that includes our roads and infrastructure first. Isn't that how they run their own businesses and personal lives?

As far as the old retread argument from 2010 to let the public have a say -  the voting public already did. They overwhelmingly voted NO in 2010 to another huge 30 year sales tax hike.

According to the Downtown Partnership website, before Burdick moved to Tampa to become President of the Downtown Partnership in 2002, she worked for Chicago's Mayor Daley. Google Mayor Daley….Daly loved spending taxpayer money as he went into office in 1989 with budget surpluses and left 22 years later leaving Chicago with massive structural deficits. The Chicago way is not a model to follow.

Again the Tribune admits the sales tax hike was baked into the Go Hillsborough campaign all along:

For nearly two years, the county staff has held meetings with the public to get input on the improvements people want to see in transportation. The initial concept was to fund improvements with a voter-approved increase of up to one cent on the dollar in the county sales tax.

The county wasted all this time and $1.3 million of taxpayer money enriching cronies to tell us the answer they had already decided.

Almost 2 years later and nothing has been done to fund our local roads that are literally crumbling and becoming safety hazards.

The taxpayers paid the hefty price and ended up with a law enforcement investigation.

But hold onto your wallets because the schizophrenic feeding frenzy for another huge 30 years sales tax hike has begun - again.

Tribune Can't Help "Fix' Go Hillsborough Mess, Tribune is Part of the Mess

The Tribune's collusion to salvage the Go Hillsborough mess they helped perpetuate is now raging. This is a PR strategy and we know who's PR strategy it is.

The Tribune reports today that they finally found someone to publicly defend the crony debacle:

In the three weeks since the report aired, no group of supporters has emerged to defend the transportation effort. Business leaders, who supported a failed transportation referendum in 2010 and have been lobbying for another effort to alleviate traffic congestion, have been silent.

That changed Monday when Bob Rohrlack, president and CEO of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber has not backed off its support for a comprehensive transportation program.

Rohrlack was reacting to an article last week in the local weekly newspaper, La Gaceta, that said the chamber was backing away from Go Hillsborough in light of the controversy. Rohrlack said the report was incorrect. 

“The chamber has not blinked. We continue to move forward on transportation,” he said.

The chamber has two committees working on transportation issues, Rohrlack said, and chamber leaders have been communicating with county staff throughout this year’s Go Hillsborough process and during many rounds of transportation meetings in preceding years.

“We’re going to work together and do something on transportation,” Rohrlack said. “We’ve been open and honest talking to the county. We’ve encouraged them to do this and we’ve been part of the discussion.”

Reminder:  the Chambers have been on the LOSING side of every transportation referendum in the Tampa Bay Area. Isn't insanity defined as continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome?

Perhaps a different tactic is needed. The Chamber should get out of their downtown bubble and talk to those who actually vote.

County Administrator Mike Merrill, acting in his new role undertaken in January 2014 as an unelected County Mayor, other county and city staff and some county commissioners have spoken about Go Hillsborough at private Chamber meetings. Elected county commissioners can advocate for tax increases and policies all day long but staffers and unelected bureaucrats cannot. Things can get quite messy in those "private" meetings......between special interests and staffers.

The Merrill/Leytham/Clifford team used a poll conducted 6 months ago with a margin of error of 4% that deceptively (how the questions were asked) reflected 52% would support a 1/2% sales tax increase. With that margin of error, there may not have even been a majority then to support a tax increase at that time. 

Based on a flimsy poll where they filtered the poll details from the PLG, a not very big participation rate from the public in the Go Hillsborough "public engagement" effort, no engineering done, no technical analysis done, no priorities provided, this team proposed a huge 30 year tax and NO transportation plan. 

Only in the public sector can crony consultants being paid $1.35 MILLION of taxpayer monies offer only one solution, a 30 year tax hike with no plan, to their clients. Real consultants never do that. In the private sector, these consultants would be fired and a refund demanded.

This is how entrenched special interests, the Tribune, the Times and other cronies operate. They have become insiders with an entrenched bureaucracy down at County Center. And according to Noah's reporting, the "Queen of Influence" Leytham, who has gotten hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars directed her way from the county, the city of Tampa, other taxpayer funded agencies, is their Gatekeeper for access.

The crony team of Merrill/Leytham/Clifford team is so entrenched that they unilaterally decided to bring back the full 1% sales tax because that's what they wanted all along.

There wasn't even any repercussions from this outrageous behavior. A little drama at the county commission meeting but no action taken and no repercussions for violating the CCNA contract, violating the policy making powers held by the electeds and violating the trust of the people.

The Go Hillsborough August 17th public release under Leytham's name violated Parsons own CCNA contract. Their contract specifically states Parsons (or any of their subcontractors) cannot publish public statements without first getting prior written consent from the county. 

I asked for a copy of the county's written consent via a public records request on September 9, 2015. To date, I have heard nothing. If it existed, they could have easily provided a copy.

Are these cronies also so entrenched with the electeds? Only an INDEPENDENT investigation going back years can find out. The investigation must include former County Commissioner Mark Sharpe.

The Tribune is desperate now because they know "they" have lost the narrative. Therefore they use one of their other often used strategies:  collusion. They collude using their editorial page (perhaps written by the "Queen of Influence") Editorial: Raw politics intrude on Go Hillsborough transportation initiative with their front page reporting referenced above. 

The Tribune has been an insider inserting their own "raw political agenda" in this mess all along with their "too cozy" relationship with the "Queen of Influence" Beth Leytham. We cannot forget Leytham's text message dated August 13, 2014 to County Administrator Mike Merrill, now public thanks to Noah Pransky's investigative reporting. Based on other text messages between Leytham and Merrill included in Pransky's reporting, we're left wondering when Leytham texts Merrill to jump, does Merrill ask how high?

Why hasn't the Tribune "owned" up to their tight knit relationship with Leytham? 

Because they have invested so heavily in it....for how many years? 

The Tribune continues to peddle another "Queen of Influence" Leytham PR strategy - point fingers elsewhere (remember when pointing, three fingers are pointing back). 

The Tribune would like nothing better than to distract, distract, distract from the real issues at hand and continue bashing and pointing fingers at those who raise legitimate questions about this entirely flawed Go Hillsborough process. The Tribune strategy is nothing short of pure arrogance put on full display by the Tribune.

The Tribune is so invested in the Go Hillsborough debacle that they do not care "how" anything is done - they just want the huge tax. To them, the "ends" justifies the "means". 

There was a time when print journalists were actually curious about "questionable" activities, possible misdeeds in government, unethical behavior in government, wasteful government spending or possible corruption and would investigate such activities. 

Those days are dead in Hillsborough County.

The Tribune cannot circle their wagons fast enough to salvage Go Hillsborough.

The Tribune cannot help "fix" the Go Hillsborough mess.

The Tribune is part of the Go Hillsborough mess!

Then You Win

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

That quote... really an imagined quote mis-attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, sums up the attitude of the local media and the politicians regarding Go Hillsborough.

We reported over the past year numerous issues with Go Hillsborough, and regularly reached out to county leaders.

They ignored us.

Go Hillsborough and the Transportation Policy Leadership Group refused to consider any alternatives besides a sales tax increase. Only the single sales tax increase was proposed... or was it two? Yet there was no real plan to build anything, only a promise to spend. They did not consider impact or mobility fees, they ignored the TBX plans, refused to develop any real plans, as if their lack of action developing feasible transportation plans over the last decade was our fault. What do we know?

Beth Leytham, working her magic "because I'm good" PR, deflecting her own creation of the mess called Go Hillsborough:

“Actually I don’t think this is just coming to light because of the TV,” Leytham said. “I think the tea partiers and anti-tax types have been talking about this for months and months.”

They laughed at us.

From the Tribune's editorial on September 19,

But tea-party opponents of the effort will look for opportunities to drive a wedge into every crease that opens in the process, no matter how small or trivial. In this case, they have the appearance of cozy relationships between elected officials and a contractor.

No. Tea Party opponents are not driving a wedge into every crease in the obviously flawed Go Hillsborough process. The Go Hillsborough team is quite good at doing that to themselves. We just report it. The Tribune presented no evidence otherwise. Only now the Tribune states the audit needs to

Eliminating that appearance [of cozy relationships between elected officials and a contractor] should be done quickly so the public can be assured the effort is about improving transportation and not about improving the bottom lines of contractors and the friends of elected officials.

Eliminating the appearance? Or should we get to the truth?

Many others besides the Tea Party, have come out against Go Hillsborough, from the Sierra Club to La Gaceta. The big story was broke by Noah Pransky. Are Sierra Club, Patrick Manteiga, and Noah Pransky Tea Party? So what gives, Tampa Tribune?

The Tribune has a lot of credibility to lose here. They've refused to acknowledge their meetings and  own "cozy relationship" with Beth Leytham, the focus of much of this investigation. Why not? 

The Tribune, severely damaged by their unacknowledged relationship with Beth Leythan, the center of the controversy, is leading the fight.

Here's a Tribune "Letter of the Day" from September 30.

Having lived through the Greenlight Pinellas war, I see another tea party activist using the same tactics to denigrate a thoroughly reasonable proposal that would benefit the entire community in West-Central Florida. Sharon Calvert is using the same methods that some No Tax For Tracks members used to unjustly defeat Greenlight Pinellas. One member repeatedly misled local municipal councils and went to Denver and brought back a totally erroneous report on Denver’s light rail. She constantly smeared PSTA management, calling into question some of their actions which in hindsight proved to be perfectly legal and reasonable. Now I see Calvert using the same misrepresentations to try to defeat Go Hillsborough — all in the name of “no new taxes.”

The fact the Tribune allowed this fact free LTE to be the Letter of the Day, much less published at all, is clearly a set up.

"Unjustly" defeated Greenlight? It was justly defeated 62 - 38%.

"Smeared PSTA management, calling into question some of their actions which in hindsight proved to be perfectly legal and reasonable."

Seriously? Which is worse in your world, an erroneous report on Denver or the federal government demanding repayment of misappropriated funds, that was not judged "perfectly legal and reasonable", but was in fact judged potentially criminal?

"This is how the tea party is destroying America."

No. This is people like Dave Stanton who are destroying America, by purposely ignoring the malfeasance and dishonorable behavior if it fits their agenda, and tarnishing those that expect more from our public servants.

Remember Greenlight Pinellas, when proponents stated only the tea party was against it. Remember 62-38. We're all tea partiers now.

And weeks later, Joe Henderson has yet another column, on the Sam Rashid story that keeps on giving him columns... so many, I've lost count.

Yes Rashid used crude language. About a month ago.

Can we move on, Joe?

Unless, you know, you really want to write something about the real issues that we and Noah Pransky have uncovered regarding Go Hillsborough, and the valid concerns that Rashid raised.

But that's not as easy as writing another column about Rashid and his bad word.

As Joe closes,

There are legitimate reasons to raise an eyebrow about the way Go Hillsborough is being run, so let the investigation reveal specifically what’s going on and act accordingly.

No matter what turns up, though, I have a feeling it won’t be enough for Rashid and opponents of the transportation measure. I’m sure the Lindbergh baby kidnapping figures into this somehow.

That’s not true, of course, but when you hate something as badly as Sam Rashid appears to hate this proposed sales tax increase, there’s no need to wait for the facts. Those things can be inconvenient anyway.

Gosh, Joe almost took on the real issue. But he dipped back into the ad hominem attacks on Rashid, rather than the merit, or lack thereof, of his argument.

By the way Joe, did you know that Sheriff David Gee was a fundraising chair for County Commissioner Stacy White during his run for commission?

Sheriff Gee was fundraising host for Commissioner Stacy White

Now we hear that (downtown only) Tampa Mayor Buckhorn, on a trip to Denver this week, with over 100 Tampa Chamber of Commerce members inspected Denver's so called light rail success was quoted  as saying "those Tea Party cowards are funding the opposition to Go Hillsborough."

The only funding the Tea Party is contributing are our taxes that is funding the Go Hillsborough debacle.

Who's the coward, Buckhorn? Hiding behind the skirt of his "friend and advisor", not a lobbyist or campaign manager, but a political donor to him, Beth Leytham, who Buckhorn has helped direct hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to.

We'll take you on any time, downtown Bob. Name the time, name the place. Bring some facts, not pejoratives.

Then they fought us.

As we wrote last week, now they've lost. Just like 2010. Just like 2014.

We are all Tea Party now.

Then we win.

Counterpoint to Tribune's Op-Ed Touts Denver Transit

More predictable rail cheerleading from the Tribune, this time with an op-ed written by Andrew Bowen about how great the EIGHT COUNTY Denver Regional Transit (and taxing) District is with light rail.

When members of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce’s Transportation Committee go on a benchmarking tour next week to Denver, they will probably be a bit wide-eyed as they experience one of the most progressive, efficient, people-friendly multimodal rapid transit systems in the nation — if not the world.

“Gosh,” they might gush. “Could we have something like this in Hillsborough County?”

The short answer is “yes, we can.”

Yes we can. If we fall for the trap.

[I]n Denver, the initial price tag was $4.7 billion, which voters approved 58 percent to 42 percent in 2004.

Which, by 2008, had ballooned to $7.9 billion.

Yes we can. If we ignore the predictable cost increase.

From the Denver Post, they have difficulty making otherwise simple decisions.

"Building one 11-mile segment of commuter rail from Westminster to Broomfield could cost as much as $681 million while about 100 miles of enhanced bus service in the northern suburbs would cost roughly half that and serve nearly eight times as many passengers, according to an analysis for the Regional Transportation District."

Yes we can. If we ignore common sense.

Still, the vast vast majority of workers in Denver commute in their cars. If Denver RTD is so great, why do only 6.5% of workers commute using RTD? That's all modes, not just light rail, but buses as well. Over 80% commute by car. And 2.4% by bike, and that's 4 times the national average.

Yes we can. If we set a low bar for success like Denver.

But I'm sure there's been a great increase in transit ridership across Denver RTD with all this investment, right?

We can check the National Transit Database for ridership and look into Denver's numbers 2004 when they passed the referendum, and 2013, the latest available data and applying a little fourth grade math.

Population in the service area increased 24%.
Service area square miles stayed the same.
Annual Unlinked Trips increased 23%

In other words, transit trips across all modes of Denver RTD grew at slightly LESS than then population growth despite, as Bowen stated, Denver has "one of the most progressive, efficient, people-friendly multimodal rapid transit systems in the nation — if not the world."

Yes we can. If we want to spend billions with no improvement in our mobility.

Still, I'm sure there some good news in Denver, right?

Well, yes, there is.

Denver RTD sales tax revenue is up 6.6% for 2015 year to date over 2014.

Denver RTD Monthly Financial Status July 2015
(http://www.rtd-denver.com/documents/financialreports/rtd-most-recent-monthly-financials.pdf)

But their ridership is under performing by 2.8% from their 2015 budget, and down 0.3% in actual ridership year to date for 2015 compared to 2014.

There you have it. Another cheerleader for under performing and expensive rail transit solutions that ignores the costs and the results, and can't do math.

Sound familiar? 

New Take on that Rashid Rant

We condemn Sam Rashid's and anyone else's misogynist, sexist and other needless derogatory comments.

But he did raise some points the media chose to ignore despite their never ending coverage of the rant, until WTSP's Noah Pransky independently broke the story that was the subject of Rashid's rant. Rashid's comments were directed about Beth Leytham's behind the scenes cronyism, much of which has been covered in this blog over the last year. However, Rashid's language overshadowed the subject of his comment.

Which got us thinking... there might be a few more dots to connect that no one else has explored.

It did occur us the last week of so during the Sam Rashid kerfuffle, the local media was hyperventilating over a hot-headed, personal comment Rashid made on Facebook, obviously not intended for wide public consumption. It's not the first time for Rashid, who got in hot water earlier for some comments about Facebook posts on judges.

Sam Rashid

The Tribune and Times were all over the story, each publishing several articles.

The Tribune published lead editorial, a Joe Henderson column, and 5 other articles all critical of Rashid's misogynistic language and generally supportive of Leytham and Go Hillsborough.

Only to be beat out by the Times, which is now up to 11 articles and counting including an editorial and an Ernest Hooper column, John Romano commentary, and Sue Carlton.

Fair enough if a bit more than overdone.

In this day and age, this once again shows anything you say can and will be used against you in any way if it's convenient to do so by your opponents.

This time, and this timing, it was very very convenient to do so.

But neither the Tribune nor the Times ever discussed the merits of Rashid's statement, which that Beth Leytham is behind much of the mess that is Go Hillsborough, pulling the levers of power behind the scenes, crossing the gray lines between lobbying, activism, and policy, and political campaigns.

Now let's open up a few more questions about the Rashid kerfuffle.

Who was trolling Rashid's Facebook page, and leaked it to the media?

It is rather interesting that someone saw that and it conveniently found its way out to the media.

Would it have been leaked without Rashid's use of language?

Was the leaker aware of Pransky's investigation and upcoming report?

Pranksy stated he had been working on the report for a year, so with all his investigation, the principals in the report knew something was up, and he stated so in his report. Pransky claimed that Leytham and Connect Tampa Bay's Kevin Thurman tried to tarnish him with the Rashid statement.

And when a member of the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, Sam Rashid, made sexist remarks about Leytham in a Facebook comment, Leytham and Kevin Thurman from Connect Tampa Bay repeatedly tried to tie 10 Investigates to the story.

Rashid was not one of 10 Investigates’ more than two dozen sources for this series, nor did WTSP communicate with Rashid during the research or writing of this investigation. Rashid has since removed his comment and apologized to Leytham, but as news of the investigation spread through Tampa-area political circles, Rashid told the Tampa Bay Business Journal he won’t resign from his board position until after 10 Investigates’ story is published.

Despite repeated assurances that there was no WTSP/Rashid relationship whatsoever, Thurman tried to “withdraw” a quote he provided until it was explained to him if Rashid was a source for our report. Leytham sent numerous text messages, e-mails, and voicemail messages to media outlets in Tampa Bay suggesting the upcoming investigation had no credibility because Rashid was awaiting it.

We can conclude that Leytham and Connect Tampa Bay's Kevin Thurman definitely tried to use the Rashid rant to blunt Pransky's critical report.

Beth Leytham

What is the Tribune's and the Times relationship with Leytham?  She claims in her practice as a PR firm to have relationships in the media, including the editorial boards on both papers. We know for a fact she has met with the editorial boards regarding Go Hillsborough. Her relationship with the editorial staff is something she has stated as one of her qualifications for PR work.

Why did neither the Tribune nor the Times editorial writers disclose their relationship with Beth Leytham?

Were the Tribune and the Times played for gullible pawns in this power play?  How much of their blind support for Go Hillsborough has been influenced by Beth Leytham?

Leytham claims to be good at what she does, including crisis management.  What is the real crisis here?

Is it Sam Rashid's rant?

Or is the real crisis the failing message behind Go Hillsborough?

Who is responsible for that failing message?

Did Leytham or other Go Hillsborough supporters use Rashid's rant to attempt to preempt Pransky's report critical of her relationships and her work on Go Hillsborough?

After all, preemption and redirection is a well known PR and crisis management technique.

Leytham's good at what she does. Just ask her. She is the Queen of Damage Control.

We're not prone to conspiracy theories when sheer incompetence will explain the mess.

This time, we're not so sure.

Disclosure: We have met Sam Rashid, or at least been in the same room, but have no ongoing relationship. We have met Beth Leytham, or at least been in the same room, but have no ongoing relationship.

Circling the Wagons Yet Again

The Tribune is in full "circle the wagon" mode because the Go Hillsborough campaign is so flawed and full of deception.

Yesterdays Tribune editorial "Tampa’s growth a flawed vision without better transportation" at least admits it is Tom Tom, the maker of GPS devices, who makes the Go Hillsborough claim that we have the 11th worst traffic.

....TomTom, that listed Tampa as having the 11th worst traffic congestion in the nation.

However, Tom Tom does not provide any source data or methodology they used for making such claim. We understand Tom Tom refused to provide that information when asked.

Go Hillsborough makes the same claim and other claims in their campaign without ever citing any source, source data or methodology for their claims. Transportation experts will always cite their sources. PR lobbying firms creating false narratives don't.

Go Hillsborough's claim that we have the 11th worst traffic in the country is easily debunked with the updated INRIX/Texas Transportation Institute 2014 traffic study. Tampa Bay is nowhere near #11 in traffic congestion and their source data and metrics are included.

We all know our local infrastructure, including our local roads and storm water, need attention, preserving, improving and, of course, need funding. They have been neglected for years. Why hasn't the Tribune asked why the county keeps holding our road funding hostage? Because they don't care about our local roads? Because they want high cost trains?

We also know that the county has money but the county continues refusing to use existing monies on basic responsibilities of local government, funding our infrastructure. The county has $123 million of NEW revenue for FY2016 yet only $2,8 million is going to roads. Does the Tribune ever look at the county budget and ask anything? Apparently not.

We have confirmed over and over that the Go Hillsborough campaign has been deceptive and flawed from the moment County Administrator Mike Merrill "handed" crony Parsons Brinckerhoff a million dollar blank check to create a transportation plan sales tax referendum marketing campaign.

Work Order for no bid contract County handed to Parsons Brinckerhoff
for "Transportation Referendum Support"

Merrill and others knew exactly what Parsons Brinckerhoff planned to do - subcontract out their phony public engagement work to their crony PR lobbyist sidekick Beth Leytham. Leytham was Buckhorn's PR campaign consultant when she took over the Parsons effort. Buckhorn is a voting member of the Policy Leadership Group who voted to hire Parsons and Leytham.

What a deal for Buckhorn and Leytham. He was able to direct hundreds of thousands of county tax dollars, from the cool million the county handed to Parsons, to his campaign PR consultant. The city of Tampa did not even have to contribute a dime.

As we previously posted here, lobbyist Leytham immediately started micro-targeting voters most likely to oppose a sales tax increase. She didn't even wait for Parsons to present to the Policy Leadership Group last October. These activities were not done in a vacuum. People knew and we know it.

Go Hillsborough is so flawed and deceptive they are forced to display pictures of traffic in LA at their meetings insinuating it is traffic here. Apparently, Go Hillsborough thinks the public will believe anything they say. Who are they kidding? The Tribune?

Go Hillsborough goes rogue when Leytham issues a Press Release unilaterally stating, with NO governing authority to do so, that the 1% sales tax is back. Decisions made behind closed doors outside of our Sunshine laws to double down on the tax is no problem for the Tribune.

We know Leytham and the Tribune editorial board are good buddies. Leytham is a political insider/lobbyist with easy access to electeds and other power brokers. The Tribune also wants access and can get it through her. We're left wondering - does Leytham write the Tribune's editorials on this issue?

Leytham, at taxpayer expense, met with the Tribune editorial board earlier this year about Go Hillsborough. Remember Leytham is getting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from Go Hillsborough. We understand that conversation included Go Hillsborough's message must mute anything from NoTaxForTracks, who led the opposition of the 2010 rail tax.

Is the Tribune that scared that another proposed 30 year $3.5 - $7 BILLION tax increase won't pass again?

Taxpayers are paying hefty "transportation expert" consulting rates, almost $1.5 million taxpayer dollars, for this Go Hillsborough effort that is a deceptive marketing campaign.

The Go Hillsborough campaign has created a $1.5 million taxpayer funded mess of deception, lies and half-truths. The mess is amplified as the Go Hillsborough campaign colludes with others.

Taxpayers in Hillsborough deserve so much better. The only remedy for this mess is for the county commissioners to step in, take responsibility and shut the Go Hillsborough campaign down NOW.

The Tribune should be investigating the Go Hillsborough deceptive campaign. But they won't. They are too invested in the deception so instead they prefer to be complicit in the deception by echoing it.

There is no way the Tribune can circle their wagons fast enough to "hide" Go Hillsborough's deception.

Tribune Supports Poaching for Downtown

The Tribune editorial today recommends support for Jeff Vinik poaching of MOSI from the USF area to downtown Tampa.

Moving the Museum of Science and Industry from its location near the University of South Florida’s main campus to downtown Tampa is an appealing prospect on a number of fronts.

The move would boost MOSI’s attendance by exposing it to more people. Tampa’s downtown would benefit from having another attraction. And the nearly 80 acres of county-owned land where the museum now sits could be marketed to private companies wanting to benefit from being near USF and the Moffitt Cancer Center and James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital.

This is precious. The Tribune has supported the relocation of the USF Medical School to downtown Tampa away from Moffitt and Haley. Keeping USF Medical near other medical research institutions in the USF area would make too much sense I guess. They would rather gamble with MOSI on the hope of Vinikville and an unknown private company to rescue the USF area.

If the move were to happen, MOSI would join two other educational institutions in the Channel District, the Florida Aquarium and the Tampa Bay History Center. And it would be near the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, the Tampa Museum of Art and Glazer Children’s Museum. Together, those facilities have established downtown as a center for culture and entertainment offerings in the Tampa Bay area.

We've heard the same story about downtown again and again. Build this educational, cultural, or entertainment venue downtown, and magic will happen. It's so important, we have to subsidize all these investments with your tax dollars from the local, state, and federal level.

MOSI Imax Theater

All these downtown investments receive some subsidies from local, state and/or federal government:

• Straz Center for the Performing Arts
• Tampa History Museum
• Tampa Museum of Art
• Glazer's Children's Museum
• Riverwalk
• Tampa Convention Center
• Tampa Theater
• Florida Aquarium
• Several parks
• Tampa Streetcar

Yet we need more? Yes, as MOSI receives it's share of subsides as well.

With all the investment in these attractions, is it really working to draw the crowds into downtown? Apparently not, as now they need MOSI to make it work.

If the current MOSI property can be marketed to recruit private companies and result in some great benefit, why can't we do that for Vinikville?  Vinik has stated as much, yet neither he nor anyone else has yet been successful in the mission to draw more private sector, taxpaying business into downtown. So now their plan is poach local business and attractions into their kingdom.

The land along East Fowler Avenue where MOSI sits is owned by Hillsborough County, which could benefit by having a private company move onto the land and generate jobs and tax revenue. A tech company moving into the neighborhood would be a bonus for the Tampa Innovation Alliance, a nonprofit that is working under the guidance of former County Commissioner Mark Sharpe to rejuvenate the area around USF and Busch Gardens.

Moving MOSI to even more expensive land downtown will somehow recoup more tax revenue? Show your math on that one, please.

By the way, former County Commissioner Sharpe's Tampa Innovation Alliance is expected to receive a $1.5 million subsidy from the state too.

Much remains to be worked out. Moving an institution of that size is a major undertaking. But the move could signal a new beginning for MOSI and for the neighborhood being left behind. And it would add another intriguing piece to the Channel District’s transformation.

Not to mention the taxpayers, who surely will be asked to pay for the move, just like they are with USF Medical.

It's part of their plan for you to pay and pay and pay.

Weekend Update

A couple of quick hits on things that grabbed our interest over the weekend.

Joe Henderson of the Trib is sounding a bit resigned about some of the missteps around the GoHillsborough transportation outreach and planning effort in Hillsborough County.

I remain skeptical, however, that voters will approve any sales tax increase, no matter the benefits. The need was great in 2010, too, but that didn’t stop voters from shooting down a similar referendum.

Joe did reach out Sharon, co-author of this blog, for some of her thoughts:

I reached out to Sharon Calvert of the Tampa tea party. She is a regular at transportation meetings and is as well-informed as anyone on the subject. Although I don’t always agree with her views, particularly on rail (I’m for it; she is not), Calvert makes a good point that leaders should consider before this referendum plan gets too far down the, um, tracks.

“I would like to see them come back with several scenarios,” she said. “I would like to see that discussion held first before tying everything into a sales tax. The logical sequence of questions that should be asked is what is (the tax) for, and how long is it for?”

Sharon's statement's are on point, of course, especially given Commissioner Ken Hagan's recent comments promoting a sales tax hike before the plans are developed

“I’ve consistently advocated over the past two years that we’ve had these PLG meetings that we have a measured and methodical approach,” Hagan told the group. “But I’ve got to tell you, I feel it’s time to bring this in for a landing.”

Which of course, Sharon addressed earlier this week.

Speaking of Ken Hagan, he's already back in the news today. The Trib reported he's considering skirting around the spirt, if not the letter of the law, to run for his old county commission seat, perhaps as soon as 2016.

Term limits, popular among Florida voters, have shown limited success in breaking the cycle of career politicians.

Nowhere is that clearer than in Hillsborough County, where one county commissioner is giving some thought to a first-of-its-kind move that could lengthen his total time in office to 20 years.

Commissioner Ken Hagan, a Republican, said he hasn’t ruled out leaving his countywide District 5 seat midterm to run next year in his old north-county District 2. The move hinges on whether District 2 incumbent Victor Crist quits to run for circuit court clerk, a move Crist said he is considering.

By switching back to his home-district seat, Hagan could avoid being forced out of office by term limits in 2018 and start a new clock — one that would allow him to stay on the commission until as late as 2024.

Hagan said the move is a long shot, but the prospect exposes a loophole in the county’s term limit law that the authors of the county charter never envisioned.

Perhaps the county charter never envisioned such attempts to thwart the constituents will, but this is rather callous to think he can get away with it. Which he might, given the war chest he's amassed of over $300,000 from his last campaign, when he had no opposition.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan

Perhaps he's focused on unfinished business over the 12 years (as of 2016) he will have been on the BOCC. He still wants to bring in the Rays into Hillsborough... and he may be wanting to control any big wad of money that would come in from his proposed sales tax transportation referendum in 2016.

He's not committed, so we... and everyone else... need to stay tuned.

Which ties back to transportation yet again.  As it must be that time of the month for the Trib editorial board to promote increasing transportation taxes yet again.

As Commissioner Ken Hagan told the panel overseeing the development of a transportation plan, “... it’s time to bring this in for a landing.”

...

If citizens want any meaningful improvements to a system that includes more than 12,000 lane miles, 700 bridges and 600 signalized intersections, it seems to us a 1-cent sales tax increase, which would raise $6 billion over 30 years, will be necessary.

The county has more than $3 billion in immediate transportation needs — about $750 million in maintenance needs alone. By way of comparison, the county has spent $1.3 billion on transportation in the last 20 years. It can’t deal with its backlog of problems, much less meet future needs, with existing funding sources.

Yes, but we still have no plan. The GoHillsborough folks are still working on it.

There have been 26 public sessions throughout the county in which more than 1,400 residents have participated. About 12,000 citizens participated in two telephone town halls. That is far more people than generally get involved in community discussions.

That's an average of about 54 people at each of the 26 public sessions throughout the county.  That's not a very high bar for participation in our opinion, especially, as we've documented on several occasions, we are spending nearly $300,000 for the PR and outreach phases in the GoHillsborough plan.

We agree with the Trib we have transportation issues. We also agree the outreach is at least better than 2010. However, we already have more than a good idea about our problems and what we can do to get started NOW.

Why wait 2 more years to improve traffic signal timings?

Why wait 2 more years to add to HARTs TDP?

Why wait 2 more years to begin to think about improving Hillsborough's neglected F-rated roads, with over a 1.5 million trips per day?

Why wait 2 more years for a risky sales tax hike and put all your eggs in one basket, rather than take a look at the Hillsborough County budget and make some choices based on the high priorities of transportation... now? If only to get started on some quick wins?

Perhaps the Trib is coming around.

We still believe rail should be part of the community’s future, but citizens have shown their wariness. Better to start with a less ambitious plan and build support.

Or, as Joe Henderson concluded

But while they’re doing that, the clock is running.

It will be about 20 months before a referendum can be held.

Even if it passes, new buses, routes and roadwork won’t appear the next day.

If it doesn’t pass?

I hope Hagan and others have a Plan B in case their powers of persuasion fail to sway enough votes.

Their cause is just. The need is great. And no matter what, it’s going to cost a lot of money.

I think I just lost everyone on that final point, didn’t I?

Joe, your point is well taken. But why wait 2 years when there are quick wins we can get started on now?